Should you use free weights or fitness machines for your weight lifting workouts.

I have to tell you straight out that I prefer the later (dumbbells and barbells) for most exercises.

Free weights demand more from your body and still allow your joints and limbs to move within their natural motion. Machines make your body move in a motion dictated by the make and design of the machine.

Most muscle strains and joint injuries come from the result of using machines that put unnatural stresses on the human body by locking you into a far too rigid position.

In the past when I have injured myself training, it's generally come about when using machines (and improper form) instead of dumbbells and barbells.

Dumbbells and barbells will give you the freedom to isolate individual muscles and train your muscles in very creative ways.

When you use free weights it doesn't matter what your height, weight, length of your limbs (arms and legs) you can still get a complete workout.

Many machines today are of great quality and design, and you can make adjustments on the machines for your particular physical proportions. Having said that many machines still seem to be designed with the average person in mind, if your not average you do stand a higher risk of injury.

Now I'm not totally against machines I do use them in my training, leg-extensions, lat pull-downs and a few other exercises. I believe that you should be using free weights 60 to 70% of the time in your training.

Machines will keep the resistance working along one plane only, this will result in the muscle group your training using less muscle while performing the exercise. The idea is to use as much of the muscle group at the same time to create maximum growth.

The muscle does react differently to the different types of resistance created by using free weights or machines. When a muscle is being hit from various angles and directions constantly as with free weights the resistance will be different and more positive then using machines which are always along a foreseeable line.

The bottom line is a work out is a work out, and sometimes you just have to make use of what is at hand to do your workout. The main thing is, that you do workout.